The best AI visibility tools in 2026 are Reflexa, Profound, Peec AI, Semrush's AI Toolkit, Ahrefs Brand Radar, Otterly.AI, AthenaHQ, Scrunch AI, HubSpot's AEO Grader and Frase — and they differ far more in what they measure than in what they cost. An AI visibility tool shows whether ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity and their peers mention, recommend or cite your company when buyers ask them for a recommendation. This guide ranks ten of them on the criteria that actually decide whether the number on the dashboard means anything: which engines are really queried, whether a mention is kept separate from a citation, whether you get the raw answers as evidence, and whether the tool tells you what to change. Full disclosure: we build Reflexa. We put it first, and we show our work below so you can disagree with us on the facts.
This list ranks AI visibility tools on five things a buyer can check, not on feature counts. First, which AI engines a tool actually queries — not which logos it prints. Second, whether it separates a mention (your name in the answer) from a recommendation (your name in the top picks) and from a citation (your domain among the sources), because AI can do any one of these without the others. Third, whether you can open the raw answer behind every number. Fourth, whether the tool turns findings into concrete changes on your site. Fifth, price — for a small team, not an enterprise. Pricing below is as published or as reported by independent comparisons in September 2026; most vendors change plans often, so treat every figure as a starting point and check the vendor's page. This article is part of our brand intelligence series on seeing how AI actually represents you.
Rule of thumb: if a tool gives you one "AI visibility score" and no raw answers, you are looking at a model of your visibility, not a measurement of it.
Reflexa is the AI Visibility Platform: it runs the real buyer questions of your category through ChatGPT, Claude and Perplexity, counts per engine whether you were mentioned, recommended or cited, and shows what to fix so AI can read and recommend you. Three things put it first on this list. It never blurs the layers: a mention, a top-three recommendation and an own-site citation are counted separately, per engine, with the raw counts shown next to every percentage — most tools fold these into a single score. Every number is observed, not modeled: the same fixed question set is asked three times per engine, and the answers are kept as evidence. And it is the only tool here that also watches the input side: AI Radar records when GPTBot, ClaudeBot or PerplexityBot actually fetch your pages, IP-verified, so you know whether AI can read you before you ask whether it recommends you.
Engines: ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity — the three it really queries. Google AI Overviews and Gemini are on the roadmap and shown as "—" until they are measured, never as a number. Price: free first check (1 domain, 5 buyer questions, one full run); Starter $49/month (2 domains, 25 buyer questions, weekly tracking); Growth $149/month (5 domains, 100 buyer questions, competitors, AI Radar). The catch: it measures three engines, not six, and it says so. If you need Gemini or AI Overviews numbers today, pair it with one of the trackers below.
Proof: the method is public — the Reflexa AI Visibility Index publishes a monthly category benchmark with raw counts, the frozen question set, an evidence log of recorded answers and a CSV download, under CC BY 4.0. Plans: reflexatechnologies.com/pricing.
Best for: teams that want a measurement they can defend — per engine, with evidence — and a concrete list of what to change, at a price a small company can carry.
Profound is the enterprise reference point for AI visibility: broad engine coverage, large prompt volumes, conversation-level analytics and an agent-traffic view of AI crawlers hitting your site. It is the tool most often named when large brands compare the category, and its analytics depth is real. It published self-serve pricing for the first time in July 2026, with an entry point around $99 per month; matching what cheaper trackers cover across three or four engines reportedly requires the $399 Growth plan or an enterprise deal.
Proof: Linkeddit — who actually publishes a price (Profound, Peec, Otterly) · DataDab — Profound vs HubSpot AEO vs Scrunch vs Otterly vs Peec vs AthenaHQ.
Best for: enterprise marketing teams with a budget and an analyst. The catch: the price curve steepens quickly, and the headline metrics are composite scores rather than raw per-engine counts.
Peec AI tracks brand visibility across a large, customisable prompt set with competitor benchmarking and source analysis, and is a frequent pick for European marketing teams. Its entry plan is reported at about $95 per month for 50 prompts and a choice of three of six models, with unlimited seats and a no-card trial — a straightforward offer for a team that already knows which prompts it cares about.
Proof: Linkeddit — Peec, Otterly and Profound pricing compared · Friction — Peec AI alternatives by use case.
Best for: teams that think in prompts and want volume. The catch: prompts are yours to invent and maintain; there is no fixed, repeated buyer-question benchmark to compare editions against.
Semrush's AI Toolkit adds AI-answer visibility, sentiment and share-of-voice reporting on top of a Semrush subscription, so an SEO team can see AI mentions next to its rankings. It is reported as a $99-per-month add-on on top of existing Semrush plans, which start around $130 per month — reasonable if you are already paying, expensive if AI visibility is the only thing you need.
Proof: Analyze — Ahrefs vs Semrush for AI visibility, pricing compared · Menra — Semrush AI Toolkit vs Ahrefs Brand Radar.
Best for: SEO teams extending an existing workflow. The catch: it is an add-on to a keyword tool, and it reads like one — the unit of analysis is still the keyword, not the buyer's question.
Ahrefs Brand Radar measures brand mentions and share of voice across AI answer indexes and Google's AI surfaces, using Ahrefs' own crawl data. A free tier exists; paid access is reported from about $129 per month, with the AI indexes sold per platform at roughly $199 each or about $699 for all six. It is a strong market-level view and a weak page-level one.
Proof: Menra — Semrush AI Toolkit vs Ahrefs Brand Radar · Analyze — Ahrefs vs Semrush pricing.
Best for: category-wide share of voice and competitor trend lines. The catch: paying per AI index adds up fast, and you see aggregate mentions, not the answer to a specific buyer question.
Otterly.AI is the cheapest credible way to start tracking AI mentions: its Lite plan is reported at $29 per month for 15 prompts across four engines, with unlimited members. It monitors prompts, shows which sources the engines cite and tracks changes over time — a sensible first tracker for a small marketing team.
Proof: Linkeddit — Otterly, Peec and Profound pricing · Surmado — best AI visibility tools 2026.
Best for: getting a first number cheaply. The catch: fifteen prompts is a small window on a category, and there is no repair layer — it tells you where you stand, not what to change.
AthenaHQ offers a genuinely free tier that includes Claude alongside the usual engines, then jumps straight to a plan reported at about $295 per month with nothing in between. The free plan is a fair way to see the category's basic shape; the paid step is a commitment.
Proof: Linkeddit — AthenaHQ, Peec, Otterly and Profound compared · PipeRocket — AthenaHQ alternatives.
Best for: trying AI visibility tracking at no cost. The catch: the free-to-$295 gap leaves small teams with no middle plan.
Scrunch AI, now part of Sitecore, bundles all six of its tracked engines into a single entry tier reported at $250 per month and leans toward content teams that want AI-readiness fixes alongside tracking. The Sitecore acquisition points it further at large content operations rather than small businesses.
Proof: Linkeddit — Scrunch pricing after the Sitecore acquisition · DataDab — Scrunch compared with Profound, Otterly, Peec, AthenaHQ.
Best for: enterprise content teams inside or near the Sitecore ecosystem. The catch: the entry price is enterprise-shaped, and roadmap direction now follows a CMS vendor.
HubSpot's AEO Grader is a free one-time check that asks ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini how they describe your brand, with ongoing monitoring reported at about $50 per month inside the HubSpot platform. It is a quick, well-made snapshot — and a funnel into HubSpot, which is fine if HubSpot is where you already work.
Proof: Rankability — HubSpot AEO alternatives, the master comparison · HubSpot — best AEO software (vendor list).
Best for: a free first look, especially for HubSpot customers. The catch: a description of your brand is not a measurement of how often you are recommended against competitors for real buyer questions.
Frase pairs its content-optimisation workflow with an AI visibility checker and monitoring, so a writer can see where AI cites the brand and act on it in the same tool. It publishes its own top-ten list of the category — with itself first — which is worth reading alongside this one for exactly that reason.
Proof: Frase — the 10 best AI visibility tools in 2026.
Best for: content-led teams. The catch: visibility tracking is the side dish; the main course is a writing tool.
| Tool | Engines queried | Mention / recommendation / citation kept separate | Raw answers as evidence | Tells you what to fix | Entry price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reflexa | ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity — 3 runs per question | Yes, per engine, with raw counts | Yes — every answer and source; public Index evidence log | Yes — What to Fix, per finding | Free; $49/mo |
| Profound | ChatGPT, Perplexity, AI Overviews | Composite scores | Partly | Partly (content guidance) | ~$99/mo; $399 Growth |
| Peec AI | ChatGPT, Perplexity, AI Overviews, Copilot — 3 of 6 on entry | Visibility + sources | Partly | No | ~$95/mo |
| Semrush AI Toolkit | AI Overviews, AI Mode, ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini — no Claude | Share of voice + sentiment | Partly | No | ~$99/mo add-on |
| Ahrefs Brand Radar | 6 pre-built indexes, sold per platform — not your questions | Mentions / share of voice | No | No | Free tier; ~$129/mo |
| Otterly.AI | ChatGPT, Perplexity, AI Overviews, Gemini, Claude — 4 on Lite | Mentions + sources | Partly | No | ~$29/mo |
| AthenaHQ | ChatGPT, Perplexity, AI Overviews, Gemini, Claude, Copilot, more | Visibility score | Partly | Partly | Free; ~$295/mo |
| Scrunch AI | 6 engines bundled | Visibility + readiness | Partly | Yes (content) | ~$250/mo |
| HubSpot AEO Grader | ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini | Brand description | Snapshot | Partly | Free; ~$50/mo |
| Frase | AI Overviews, SERP features — no chat engines | Citations | Partly | Yes (content) | Bundled with Frase |
Engine lists are as each vendor states them (verified against ToolChase's August 2026 comparison and the vendors' pages). A longer list is not more measurement: what matters is whether you can open the answer behind the number. Reflexa lists only the engines it queries per answer, three runs per question, with every answer kept.
Bottom line: most of the field measures; two or three also help you change something; one shows its raw counts and evidence in public. Pick the column that matters to you.
AI visibility is three separate outcomes, and a tool that reports one number is hiding two of them. ChatGPT can mention your company without recommending it, recommend it without linking your site, and cite a page of yours without ever saying your name. The Reflexa AI Visibility Index measured exactly this in September 2026: the most recommended project management tool was named in 51% of AI answers, but its own website appeared among the cited sources in only 18%. A brand can win one layer without winning the other — and the right fix is different for each. Before comparing prices, ask every vendor which of the three it counts, per engine, and whether you can open the answer behind the number. Then read the AI competitor analysis guide to see who AI names instead of you, and the share of voice in AI answers explainer for how to track it over time.
Proof: Reflexa AI Visibility Index — Project management, September 2026 (100 buyer questions × 3 engines × 3 runs, 900 observed answers, raw counts and evidence log).
Do this: run the free Reflexa check on your own domain first — it shows mentioned, recommended and cited per engine for your real buyer questions, with the answers attached. Then you will know which of the ten tools above you actually need.
We build Reflexa, so read our #1 as an argued position, not a neutral verdict — every claim above about the other tools links to an independent comparison or the vendor's own page, and every claim about Reflexa links to a public method you can inspect. Prices in this category move monthly; what does not move is the question to ask any vendor: show me the answer behind this number.
Sources: Linkeddit — who publishes a price: Otterly, Peec, Profound, AthenaHQ, Scrunch · DataDab — six-way platform comparison · Menra — Semrush AI Toolkit vs Ahrefs Brand Radar · Analyze — Ahrefs vs Semrush pricing · Rankability — HubSpot AEO alternatives · Frase — 10 best AI visibility tools · ToolChase — best AI search visibility tools 2026, prices dated by verification month · Reflexa AI Visibility Index — September 2026 edition
The free check runs your real buyer questions across ChatGPT, Claude and Perplexity — mentioned, recommended and cited, per engine, evidence attached.